McTaggart got a run down on the last two top picks at the elite camp this week:

On Bogusevic:

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“Last year was a big year for him,” Astros assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said. “For the first time, he started to show that consistency. He’s a little older and only pitching full time for about two years now.

Bogusevic is working on his slider & change up during the off season.

On Sapp:

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“He’s really made some strides thus far, but we’d like to see some more consistency,” Bennett said. “He’s at a point now and he’s been in the organization a couple of years, this is normally the time a few of them start to make that jump and show more consistency.”

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The Astros have been monitoring Sapp’s big-body physique in an effort to keep him in better shape. He has been doing pilates and recently started doing hot yoga, which is yoga in room heated to 95-100 degrees.

Hunter Pence was an easy call for last year’s top #1, and he made us look much smarter than we really are.  You all know how big an impact Pence made at the major league level in his rookie year.  That was preceded by a month of tearing up the Pacific Coast League.  However, we would never have guessed that our numbers’ 2 -5 would not be in the organization for the 2008 season.  But that’s what happened.  Our #2 Patton and #3 Albers helped secure Miguel Tejada in trade.  And our #4 Juan Gutierrez helped get closer Jose Valverde from Arizona.  Our #5 Jimmy Barthmaier had a forgettable year, was released, and subsequently picked up by Pittsburgh.  Our #6 Paul Estrada flopped in his first taste of AAA.  Our #7 Felipe Paulino made good with his best minor league season and earned a major league call-up in September.  #8 Sergio Perez was good but not dominant.  #9 Chad Reineke had a fine year at Round Rock.  And our #10 Eli Iorg started the season in fine fashion, but an injury put him on the shelf for most of the year.

Thanks to the work of new Astros General Manager Ed Wade this year’s top 10 features 7 new faces and quite a bit of movement for nearly all the prospects.  There continues to be a severe lack of high end talent in the Astros system.  Last year’s draft debacle did not help matters.  So, new this year we provide you with our top 20 as there really are not enough higher quality players to make ranking each position in the system worthwhile.  Surprisingly we did not have a difficult time selecting the top 20 though we did so while holding our noses.  As you will see, we profile the top 10 as always, but numbers 11 – 20 feature only brief comments.  We remind you now that we only consider prospects from the full season leagues for the top 10 and this year the top 20.  Our top 10 features 5 pitchers (all right handed), 3 outfielders, 1 infielder, and 1 catcher.  And now, on with the show.
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Chance Douglass is interviewed about his rough AAA promotion last year:

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“It was one of those things where I think usually I am ahead of the hitters mentally, but when I got to Triple-A, I didn’t feel that,” Douglass said. “I was playing catchup the whole Triple-A season.

“Definitely, it was a learning experience I can use. Having older guys on the team, I was really able to pick their brains. Even though I didn’t do a great job implementing it, I’ve had a whole offseason to process it.”
On working with kids:

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“My message is baseball is a very fun game,” Douglass said. “But it takes hard work, and you have to put in the time. Nothing comes easy.

“I’ve been impressed (with the ability of the young players). Some of them can definitely throw. The thing which I tell them all, no matter what skill level you are at now, you can all be that much better next year.”
On setting goals:

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“All the time I set goals,” Douglass said. ” It’s hard to set as far as where I am at because that’s out of my hands. So I set performance goals as far keeping my ERA at a certain point, have a good strikeout-to-walk ratio, make all my starts, just stuff like that.”

Farmstros found this piece today about Tip Fairchild:

Where he is at in his rehab:

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Now I’m up to eight or 10 minutes off a mound and I’m locating, inside and outside. I’ll throw three pitches to the inside, three to the outside, three to the inside, three to the outside,” he said. “Then, I’ll go from the stretch and throw three to the inside, three to the outside. I’ve started to mix in my change-up, and for the past week-and-a-half I’ve been throwing that very well. Then recently, I started spinning my breaking ball (from) a short distance and getting the feel for that back.”

“The bullpen that I threw (Wednesday), I could go out in and pitch in a rookie game and do fine. So, I feel like I’m ahead of schedule in that aspect,” he added.
What to expect from him at Spring Training:

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“The weird thing is, I’m going to be ahead of schedule (compared) to almost every pitcher down there,” he said. “Those guys are going to catch me faster because I’m going to be rehabbing through the whole spring training. Hopefully, by the end of (spring training), I’ll be built up to where I’m throwing five innings in a game. That’s what they’re hoping.”

Hopes to be at AA this year.

For what it is worth, Astros prospect Tip Fairchild believes Clemens is innocent.

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“I guess I’d tell people to wait until it’s all over and then make your judgments,” he added. “Just hear him out and see what happens.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us how Tip is doing recovering from Tommy John surgery (although it mentions a related article that I can’t find).

Stubby Clapp, Lexington Hitting Coach and Astros Minor Leaguer Danny Klassen are interviewed about minor leaguers who feel steroid users kept them from playing in the bigs.  The Canadian article mentions a former minor leaguer who is considering a class action lawsuit against MLB because those not using were at a disadvantage and were harmed from realizing potential earnings.

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“It’s easy to feel cheated,” said the 32-year-old Klassen, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. “It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself when you’re trying to do things the right way and other guys are going  past you.”.. .”Anyone who wanted them could have gotten them, but I didn’t know what affect it would have down the road,” he six-foot, 190-pound Klassen said.

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“I don’t have millions, but I have my dignity,” he said. “I’m more satisfied with how I got there and can look my wife, my sons, my mom and dad and family in the eye and have a clean conscience.”

In preparation for the BCS game tonight, Devon Torrence talks about his “humbling experience” in Greeneville & Columbus:

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“It’s kind of a blur, everything went so fast,” said Torrence, a true freshman receiver who caught four passes for 31 yards in seven games this season. “I was hitting baseballs, now I’m trying to catch passes. I was at corner, then went to receiver. It’s been fun, though. I had to learn a lot of stuff this year, that’s for sure.”

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“It’s been a humbling experience,” he said. “When I got to (Greeneville), I was striking out like crazy. … Then I get here and I’m used to scoring, and I don’t score a touchdown all year. I’m just taking it stride-for-stride.

From the Scranton PA paper

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“The big thing for me is that he and I are getting back together,” Ruby said. “It’s kind of a nice little reunion for us. We respect each other tremendously.”

Wade, a Carbondale native, and Ruby have been friends ever since Ruby worked with Wade in the Phillies organization. Ruby joined the Phillies in 1998 when Wade was the team’s general manager. Ruby went on to serve as Triple-A pitching coach, minor league pitching coordinator and minor league director before leaving for the Pirates in 2002.